Orders were being shouted behind her. A lot of people behind her running around, trying to find a point to start looking for the creatures. Also a lot of people sounding scared, a general murmur of voices that acted like background noise.
Danni hadn't moved from in front of the monitors. Her mind seemed to have emptied, and her panic froze her. What did she do now? It wasn't completely uncommon for them to get split up on an adventure, but then again it wasn't normally her responsibility to get them back together again. She wouldn't even know to begin.
"Danni," the Osgood that was dressed like her placed a hand on her arm, bringing her attention back to the room, "what's the plan?"
Danni turned to see them all staring at her, waiting and expecting. A whole room of people that wanted her to have a plan, a way out, a way to stop the threat and save the day. All she could do was blink back for a moment.
What was she supposed to do? She was only one person, and they'd had five of them before they'd escaped. Six if you counted the one who had Clara.
Clara.
She straightened slightly. Now wasn't the time for self-doubt. The Doctor had been able to do this almost on a daily basis, and she was the universe's greatest expert on him. She'd watched him work, she understood his thought processes. She could do this.
"Right, plan," she declared, "plan, plan, plan." She clapped her hands together, "Right, we need a plan. I can do that."
Kate shared a look with Osgood, "We need to stop the creatures," she offered as a start, a prompt to the Time Lord who seemed a bit lost over what to do, "do we know what weapons will work against them?"
Danni pointed her, "Wrong!" She cried in reply, surprising them all with the way she spoke to one of their most senior officers, "That's not the question we need to ask."
"Then what is?" Kate asked.
"Why we need to stop them," Danni replied. "They should have just escaped, but they didn't. They took a whole group of people away. They didn't have time to kill them, and there's no evidence that they did."
"If they have hostages, what else do they want?" Kate asked and Danni shrugged.
"I don't know," Danni replied, "but we need to find that out."
"What if they've just taken them as a food source?" Doctor-Osgood asked and Danni shot her a look.
"Then we'd know about it," she replied firmly. "The lights weren't off for long, but there's no sign of a fight in the other room. No blood, no nothing. They've been taken, and they've done that for a reason."
"So, the plan is to try and work out what they want?" Kate asked.
Danni shook her head, "No, the plan is to find Clara," she replied firmly, "she'd have found out what they want. She's clever, more so than me."
~0~0~0~
Clara had known that something was bound to go wrong. It always did when they split up, and yet every time she still went along with the plan. Even if she spoke up, it rarely made a bit of difference and they always managed to boost her ego enough that she didn't realise they'd convinced her until it was too late.
The fact that they both, at the same time, had the creatures under the scanner was a giant red flag she knew Danni would have noticed as well. But Danni didn't seem to be doing anything about it, so she followed her lead.
"Err, yes, you… you're fine," Clara stuttered slightly, "we'll just need you to go into the cell for just a moment."
"Why?" The creature asked, sounding as confused as she'd expect a normal person to be at the request.
"For your own protection," Clara explained, deciding to try and make it sound more urgent for the creature than for everyone else, "you'll be safer in the cell."
Of course, the moment it was about to step into the cell, that was when the lights went off. Clara should have known that it wouldn't have taken very long for everything to go terribly wrong. The few people that were in the room screamed, and then she felt cold breath on her neck.
She was surprised at how calm she felt about being killed, but a serenity fell over her. There was nothing she could do, so why panic?
A hand with sharp nails wrapped around her arm, and suddenly she was being pulled at a ridiculous speed out into the hallway. She was shoved into the small group of staff who was waiting outside, bouncing off a rather large man before being able to right herself.
"You're coming with us," one of the creatures hissed.
"Fire!" One of the soldiers shouted. Clara's hands went to her ears as the bullets fired in front of them, most of the staff did the same. It died down, and they lowered their hands. Tentatively they all checked to see if they were safe.
The sound of the soldiers being ripped to shreds echoed in the black hallway, and the lights came on just in time to see the creature's jaw returning to normal. Blood splattered across walls and on few of the people at the front.
The creature, who Clara still couldn't focus on, seemed to be joined by another couple who she also couldn't get a good look of. They must have been in the crowd, waiting for their turn underneath the camera. Or for a sign that they could regroup.
Most of the staff at UNIT weren't soldiers. A lot were, or at least in Clara's experience, but there were also lab technicians, and research assistants. A lot of normal scientists who just happened to have an extraordinary subject to study. The group she had weren't exactly ready for the battle field, so once they'd assessed the situation, they began to panic.
"Calm down," Clara reassured them as they were lead off down the hallway, "don't panic, just do what they say!"
"Be quiet!" One of the creatures hissed and their panic fell into a quiet murmur, "You'd do well to listen to the feisty human. We can just kill you all now, if you'd prefer."
"No, no, we'd not prefer that," Clara quickly reassured them, "we're all very much in favour of being kept alive."
"Then cram it," the creature snapped, much to Clara's surprise. They must have been here quite a long time to pick up such a colloquial term.
She picked up her speed slightly, making her way to the group of people being led away. Two of the creatures were at the back, and two at the front. The ones at the back were snarling and snapping at the hostages, but the ones at the front were just leading the way.
"Where are we heading?" One asked the other, once again in a voice Clara really couldn't focus on. It must have been part of the psychic part of them. If they didn't have a form you recognised, they must not be able to put on a voice you would either. She grinned slightly to herself, proud for working that out so quickly. She had to wonder if Danni had.
The other creature paused, tilting their head upwards and taking a deep sniff. That was interesting, they must have a good sense of smell. Another thing to note down and file away to tell the Time Lord.
"This way," the creature declared, motioning down the hallway.
"Hi, um, Mr Shadow Man," Clara declared, jogging just a little to catch up to their large strides, "sorry, we're all very grateful that you've not eaten us, but I was just wondering what you're going to do with us?"
"I was wondering the same," the first creature growled, turning to its friend, "I'm so hungry."
"Oh, do shut up Marnem," the other one snapped, "you can eat all you like later."
"You got to eat the guard," Marnem grumbled, but did fall silent.
"I'm guessing," Clara continued after a moment of quiet, "that you need us alive, yeah?"
"Only some of you," the creature replied, "just enough to keep us all alive as well." Clara nodded along, like she agreed with the plan when it sounded absolutely awful to her.
"I see," she replied slowly, "and, and do correct me if I'm wrong, but we're your bargaining chips to get you free and to that planet you were heading to?"
The creature paused, looking back at her, "You seem to know a lot about us," it commented.
"My friend had a long chat to your friend you're trying to free," she explained, "said you were heading somewhere to go hunting instead of here."
"Something like that," the creature replied offhandedly, "but that's not why we need you. We just need you long enough to stop this planet making any noise."
"Noise?" Clara asked, confused as there was a scream from the back of the group, along with an almighty crunch. They fell to a stop as the rest of the group whimpered and screamed in equal parts, whereas the creature Clara had been talking to growled angrily.
"I said don't eat anyone!" He shouted loudly at the creatures at the back.
"But we're so hungry!" One of the others replied, "Why can't we just eat a couple of them?"
"Because if you keep making noise, we'll all be dead," the creature replied. "That's how Chesnick got us into this mess in the first place! Now cram it and keep your hands to yourself, otherwise we'll be eating you next, understood?" There was no reply, and the creature looked pleased with the result before setting off in a walk once again.
"So," Clara started again after a moment, "you're probably quite angry at your mate Chesnick for making such a racket, right?" The creature just shot her a look, like it was a stupid question, "so, if you're angry at them, then why are you saving them?"
The creature, again, didn't reply. Instead, they reached down to their waist and Clara started slightly at the sight of Danni appearing from nowhere once again. Even before she got over the surprise at her friend materialising, she made a mental note of where the perception filter/field/thing was being kept.
"She won't be making any for much longer," Danni told her with a grin that sat oddly on her face. "And don't worry, we won't tell your friend. We're not in the business of spilling secrets."
Clara frowned, "What secrets?"
The Danni shook her head, "Oh, some people really just can't see it, can they?" She murmured and then, a second later, she was gone and the unfocused figure reappeared.
Clara didn't quite understand for a moment, falling back slightly as she thought on the words. See what, exactly? That had been the second time a creature had turned into Danni, but the last time all it had taken was a little pause and they'd turned into Danny, the correct Danny. She hadn't had the time to do that, but they were definitely mistaken.
"Danni?" She scoffed, "I don't want Danni. Well, I do want Danny, but that's a different Danny. With a 'y', not an 'I'. She's just my friend."
"Of course she is," the creature replied, like it had heard that a million times before, "that's why you saw her."
"Shut up," Clara snapped and the creature chuckled. She crossed her arms and fell back into the crowd, her head rushing over the idea that maybe the creature was right.
~0~0~0~
Danni growled slightly as she flicked through the channels on the large array of monitors. She could see all around the building, and the soldiers with multiple types of weapons heading around, trying to locate their escaped convicts. The general consensus was that traditional bullets weren't going to work, so the rest of the weapons were spread out amongst them. It appeared that they were no longer trying to capture the creatures, just remove them as threats completely.
Danni didn't agree with this course of action, and had in fact brought up her objections loud and bluntly. But Kate was in charge, and she was following UNIT rules. Danni could see why the frustrated the Doctor so much now.
Her phone burnt in her pocket, a weight she could barely feel but couldn't stop thinking about. She could ring Clara and find out where she was, but if her phone wasn't on silent, or she answered when she shouldn't, then if she was alive then she might not be for much longer.
She thought about calling the Doctor for help, but she held herself back. All of this was to prove she could do it on her own. She was so tired of being useless, of feeling useless when faced with something tough without him. She knew she could do this without running to him for help. She needed to do this.
And, yes, that might be a bit detrimental to what she was trying to achieve for UNIT, but so far she was certain the Doctor would have done everything she had done, so she knew it was just the next bit she had to get right. If it started to go downhill from here – which wasn't exactly the highest place on the hill to begin with – then she'd call him. Not before.
"No luck?" The Doctor-Osgood appeared beside her and Danni shook her head.
"All I can see is all of the soldiers, no Clara, or blurs or anything. We had another four to find, I'm sure of it, where have they gone?"
"Ma'am just got word that the ground floor is clear," Doctor-Osgood explained, "so unless they are up, they're trapped in the dungeons."
"I just," Danni started, pulling her glasses off to rub her eyes, "I don't know what to do. You're all hell bent on killing them, but I don't think we should, but I also don't have any alternatives," she sighed heavily. "The Doctor would know what to do."
"Yes, he probably would," Osgood agreed, "but you know what to do as well. Maybe you shouldn't think like the Doctor, maybe you should think like Danni. What would Danni do now?"
Danni chuckled slightly, "I'd be asking him some stupid questions that would nudge him into gear," she replied, "that one question that would help him pull all of the information together."
"Well, why don't you ask yourself them?" Osgood suggested, "It might help, you never know," Danni shrugged and Osgood grinned, happy to be of help. "Okay, what would you ask first?"
"I'd ask how we were going to save Clara," Danni replied, because that was an easy question.
"And what would he say in reply?"
Danni smiled slightly, "He'd tell me that Clara was a big girl and that I'm missing the bigger picture."
"And then you'd ask him…" Osgood continued leadingly.
"What the bigger picture is," Danni replied. "He'd shoot me a look like it was a stupid question, then he'd tell me that human's never listen," Osgood listened silently, seeing that Danni was falling into the scenario. "I'd tell him that he was being an arse again, and I listen to people more than he does. He'd tell me that I was correct, but that he listened to what wasn't being said."
"What does that mean?" Osgood asked.
"It means that he was listening, he just doesn't like to admit it," Danni replied. "But something caught his attention that we all missed. Something that's been bugging him for a while, and probably still is."
"Do you still have that?" Osgood asked. "Before, you said you were missing something."
"That's because I was. I was missing the fact that there was more than one of them, but then I worked it out."
"So why would he answer that you've missed something?"
"Because there's always something to miss," Danni replied. "Something he said, something he did when I was talking to him. A little tell that would give the Doctor a bit of an advantage. Like the fact that it was 'Shadow Men', meaning that there was more than one. Or the fact that it had you wanting it instead of being afraid meant that it was weaker then. Or the fact that it was running away from its home planet and had stopped for a snack. Just little things."
"Hang on," Osgood asked with a frown. "What do you mean 'running away'?"
Danni looked at her, the same confused look reflecting back on her face, "Sorry?"
"You said that they were running away," the UNIT worker replied. "Why would you say that?"
Danni didn't look like she remembered saying it, and she shrugged, "I don't know, I was just saying what I thought the Doctor would say."
"But why would he say that?" Osgood pressed, looking over at her other self, who was stood with Kate. Immediately the Danni-Osgood seemed to know something was happening and started to attempt to get the attention of her boss.
If Osgood had to explain what happened next, she would say that Danni hadn't even realised that she'd worked it out until it had been pointed out to her. First she still looked confused, then thoughtful as she played her own words back in her head. She had to think about why she'd brought it up in the first place, and where the idea had come from.
"He thought they were going to eat like kings," Danni started slowly, "but then they stopped off for a 'snack', and ended up staying. If you're heading for a trip in a spaceship, you never have to stop off for a snack, it's not the same as stopping off in a car, it takes effort to land on a planet. Especially somewhere like Earth, where there are little to no provisions in place for any spaceship to land. Stopping on Earth in a spaceship is the equivalent of stopping off in the middle of the desert for a drink. Even if you wanted a snack, chances are you'd keep on going."
"So why did they stop here?" Osgood asked.
"Well, that's the question," Danni replied. "They must have had to. Food brought them to Earth, but they had no idea about humans, that's why he was surprised about how good you all tasted. It wasn't planned, and it wasn't done with foreknowledge. They landed because they had to, most likely their 'snack' was more of a desperate look for food. They left without food."
"Who leaves their planet without enough food?" Osgood reasoned, "How would they even know that they would come across food they could eat?"
"There are stories of them on multiple planets," Danni reminded her, "ones that knew them and ones they know about. You found stories about them from many species, and that's only the ones we know about. Chances are that they're known quite well by quite a few species."
"Which means they probably could have just headed to a star system that they knew about to eat at instead," Osgood continued, "so why come here?"
"Come somewhere that was probably quite out of the way to them. Somewhere you would have to go purposefully to. People seem to like to attack Earth, but that doesn't mean that you would happen upon it on the way to somewhere else."
"So why come here?" Osgood asked as the other two joined them.
"What's going on?" Kate asked. "Did you find anything?"
Danni shook her head, "No, but I think I understand now…" she turned, looking at the screens for a moment. "They've not killed anyone unless they had to. They've taken hostages, but they've disappeared from sight. They're on a planet they shouldn't be and they've stayed here," her eyes lit up. "They're hiding."
"Hiding?"
Danni nodded, "They're hiding from someone. I don't know what, or why, but they're hiding. They must be. On the run from something and they stopped off on a little backwater planet," she looked at them all, "no offence – and happened upon a wonderful food source. But if they were heading somewhere for a reason, then they would have still gone eventually."
"But they've set up home here," Kate continued, "which means that their destination wasn't the important thing, just that they had one."
Danni nodded, "Which are signs that they've been kicked off their home planet, or they're running. The hostages, the radio silence, that says to me they're worried. If they were sent away, then they wouldn't be hiding."
"So they're running," Kate agreed.
"Does that mean something is coming?" The Doctor-Osgood asked lowly.
~0~0~0~
The room Clara and the rest of the hostages were herded into was, actually, much larger than the one she had been sorting out the staff into. It was also a lot darker, a lot danker. It was obviously storage, with metal boxes stored nicely up against the walls with labels on each of them, like someone had been looking after the contents, even if they weren't looking after the room itself.
She was also happy to note that there were cameras in all four corners of the room, which meant that even if they'd not been located yet, they would be soon.
There were already four blurs waiting for them, two of which were stationed at the doorway. Her friend, the one convinced she wanted Danni in any capacity other than a friend – it was such a ridiculous notion, but she could forgive them because that close friendships like that might not be a thing on their planet – made sure they were all in the room before heading over to the new aliens.
"She ate the two soldiers as well!" One of the new creatures declared, pointing at the creature Clara assumed had been the original alien captured – Chesnick.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The leader creature exclaimed. "They're going to hear us; do you want to be killed?"
"They're just so tasty, Kathcan," Chesnick moaned and Clara grimaced slightly. Even in a half-transformed state, where Clara couldn't make out a face or a proper voice, that sounded incredibly whiny. "What do you expect me to do?"
"I expect you to keep your bloody mouth shut!" Kathcan snapped back. "And you will until I say so, or we're going to eat you. Understood?"
"Fine," Chesnick grumbled and Clara had to wonder if they were the equivalent to a teenager of their species.
"What do we do now, Kathcan?" The other creature asked. "We can't go back; you know what they'll do to us."
"We've just got to keep quiet," Kathcan explained. "We have hostages; the power is on our side. We just need to get UNIT to carry on as if nothing was happening until they've passed through the solar system and then we'll scram."
"No, we can't leave!" Chesnick exclaimed, "I like it here."
"We all like it here," Kathcan retorted, "you're the one who's ruined it for everyone because you couldn't keep your gut to yourself."
"I'm a growing Chiman, I need food!" Chesnick replied and Clara noted the name she had spouted. She slowly left them to fight between themselves, heading to the back wall of the room, away from the scared UNIT staff and the Chiman that were on guard.
She pulled out her phone, and quickly called her friend, hoping that she'd not left her phone back in the flat.
~0~0~0~
Danni almost dropped her phone when it started ringing, it fell through her hands a few times before she caught it and managed to answer the call.
"Cl-" she dropped it again, "Clara, are you okay? Where are you?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Clara replied, "we're on the bottom floor, I think. In some sort of storage area," Danni nodded along as she started flicking through the cameras.
"Do you know why they took you?" She asked her friend.
"Yes, they're trying to keep quiet. I think they're in some sort of trouble on their home planet," Clara quickly told her. "Just come get us, yeah?"
"I'm on it," Danni promised, frowning with each change of the images on the screen. "Where did you say you were?"
"Bottom floor," Clara replied. "I'm going to hang up, I don't want them to think I'm giving anyone a heads up."
"I can't find you," Danni replied. "Look, just keep safe, we're coming." Clara hung up and Danni continued to flick through the screens. "Why can't I find them?"
"Where are they?" Danni-Osgood asked, joining her as she searched through all the camera's on bottom floor, which turned out to be underground.
"In a storage area, she says," Danni replied, "but there's no sign of any of them on any of these screens."
Kate placed a finger against her inner ear communication device, "They're in the dungeons, in the storage area. Repeat, they are in the dungeons. Check every room." She frowned, "What do you mean you're already down there?"
Danni looked back at her, as confused by the new information as the officer was. She then turned back to the screens, "Where exactly are they?" Danni asked.
Kate relayed the question back to the sergeant she was communicating with, "In the lower left side."
Danni quickly found the feed, but there was no sign of the soldiers anywhere, "They've changed the feeds," Danni exclaimed.
"These are live feeds," Danni-Osgood replied, "they can't change the feeds."
"They have, though," Danni flicked through until she found another, identical, image from the other side of the bottom floor. "There, we're being looped in. They've cut just enough to make sure that we're drawn to the new feeds."
"But that means that was where they were planning to be all along," Doctor-Osgood surmised, "but why trap yourself down in the dungeons?"
"Because they weren't planning on leaving," Danni-Osgood replied before Danni could. "They are hiding, but not from us."
Danni nodded, "We need to talk to them."
~0~0~0~
After Clara had spoken to Danni, she'd moved back to her original position. She knew that the more information she could get, the more that would be useful to Danni if she could pass it along.
One of the Chiman had pulled out what appeared to be an old computer, and had set it up in one corner of the room. The others were crowded around it, so they obviously had a plan.
"Are you sure this will work?" Kathcan asked his little minion.
"This technology is old, very old," the minion replied. "There's no way it would be picked up by the search ship."
"You really are hiding, aren't you?" Clara asked as she took a step closer to their circle. She suddenly felt the eyes of all of the Shadow Men looking back at her.
"We just have to keep quiet for a little longer," Kathcan told the interfering human. "If you value yourself and your friends' safety, I'd mind your own business."
"Yes, well, I might actually be able to help you," Clara retorted, taking another step closer to show that she wasn't scared. "Why are you hiding?"
"Because they want to kill us," another Chiman replied. "All we did was eat a few hundred Narwings, and suddenly it's executions at dawn."
Clara's brows furrowed slightly, "Execution for eating a few hundred animals?" She asked, "Seems a bit harsh."
"Well, they weren't just your normal Narwings," Kathcan replied, "but how were we supposed to know they were the Emperors? Everyone knows that the Emperor puts collars on his livestock!"
"And so you're all on Earth, hiding from the Emperor?" Clara guessed.
"It wasn't intentional, I can assure you," Kathcan replied. "We have plenty of other planets we could have headed to, ones where we could have hidden in peace. But, we needed to stop."
"We're online," the minion with the computer replied. "The camera will override all other feeds within the building when you start transmitting."
Kathcan disregarded Clara and headed back over to the old computer. Clara rushed over to his side.
"Who are you trying to talk to?"
"UNITs high officers," the minion replied, but that was all they offered her. She tried not to pout, after all she'd managed to keep them talking for a little while, but she hated when people didn't answer her questions and she couldn't force answers out of them.
One of the benefits of being a teacher, she guessed.
The screen flickered on the old, chunky, computer monitor, and suddenly they had a full view of the room Danni had been filtering UNIT workers through.
"Greetings, UNIT," Kathcan called and all of the people on the screen turned to look at them in surprise. "I'm contacting you to negotiate our release."
Danni pushed her way to the front, "That's amazing, you've actually overridden all of the camera feeds," she commented from the other room, "I can see you on every screen, it's like the inside of an electronics store. Where's Clara?"
"You do not get to ask the questions, only answer them," Kathcan replied as a couple more of the creatures joined her in view of their little webcam.
"We are the Shadow Men," they all stated at the same time in a strange voice that actually creeped Clara out slightly. "You will do as we say."
"Where's Clara?" Danni repeated.
"You do not get to make demands," Kathcan replied. "We are communicating with you to let you negotiate our release."
"Oh, are you?" Danni replied in a voice that said she really didn't care. "Well, I am asking for where Clara is. Looks like we're at a bit of an impasse, wouldn't you agree?"
"We have the power here," Kathcan stuttered out, a bit bewildered as to why the woman on the screen wasn't bowing to her scare tactics. "We have the hostages. You will give us our demands, or…"
"Nope," Danni interrupted. "You're trapped in the basement because you're hiding. Almost six hundred years has taught me that people only do that because they're scared. I want to see Clara, otherwise this conversation is over."
It was quite obvious that not only were the Shadow Men quite taken aback by her forceful nature, so was the rest of UNIT. Clara rolled her eyes; even when there was only one of them, they were so bloody dramatic.
"Alright, there's no need for that," Clara grumbled, walking over to the screen and pushing her way in front of Kathcan. "I'm here, I'm fine, think you can stop being all Time Lord and stop the dramatics?"
Danni grinned happily, "Of course!" She replied happily and Clara took a step back and out of the way, "So, you're hiding from someone, correct?"
"We do not want to be found, yes," Kathcan offered as a reply. "You will help us hide until the time comes that was can leave."
"Will we?" Danni replied.
"Yes, otherwise we will kill your people," Kathcan nodded behind him to the hostages. "My daughter is right; you are all very tasty."
Danni paused, "What do you want?" She asked lowly.
"Silence," Kathcan replied and Danni leant forward. Clara knew that word would always hold some significance for her, but fortunately in this context, it was just a word. "The army chasing us will not land on each planet they come to. They will scan it, looking for noise made about us. Your capture of my daughter made noise, you will silence it until they have passed over the planet, and then we will leave."
"We can't let you go," Kate said, stepping forward and into the camera shot, "you've killed innocent people, that cannot go unpunished."
"If you do not do as we say, we will kill you all," Kathcan replied simply, "and you will all come willingly."
"Why are you not in that form now?" Danni asked, which was a good question. "I understand your second form is the one you eat in, but why are you not in your first? It's obvious that you have no hold over your hostages."
"That is none of your concern," Kathcan replied sharply.
"Oh, I'm just curious!" Danni moaned, "I know I've read about your planet in some old history book, but I don't know anything about you. Is it because there's too many of you for it to work? Or too many of them for you to create a solid psychic link? Or do you also affect yourselves and you can't risk being in the more powerful form around each other?"
Clara could tell that the Chiman was getting rather irritated at Danni's questions, but the Time Lord wasn't done, "Also, where does the nickname, Shadow Men come from? Did you choose it yourself? Or was it because all the other species only saw you in the dark? Or, is it because you have a particular weakness to light that becomes rather useful once you're in the final stage?"
"These questions serve no purpose!" Kathcan replied.
"Oh, no, they do," Danni told him happily. "They're acting as a distraction."
"A distraction?"
Danni nodded, "Yeah. Keeping you busy just long enough for our men to find you."
The creatures in the room started to panic, and Kathcan turned and snapped at them, "Quiet!" He turned back to Danni, obviously panicking himself, "We will kill you all if you attempt to come in here," he warned.
"Yeah, and then we'll just call your mothership down and they'll get their grubby hands on you," Danni countered.
"They will kill you too," Kathcan warned. "We are protecting you as much as ourselves. You do not understand our laws, our police."
"Then tell us," Danni urged. "No one else has to die."
Then the door was broken down by a bunch of soldiers, shouting out orders and everything fell to chaos.
~0~0~0~
Danni ran down the hallway, trying to not look at the blood and the bones that scattered the small area. There was sounds of bullets going off in the distance, but she was trying to find Clara and so she ignored them for the time being.
It had all gone horribly wrong the moment the soldiers burst into the room. She had explicitly told them to just knock, to let the Shadow Men know that they were surrounded, but only as a threat. The plan definitely not had been to break their way in. That way lead to only death and destruction, and she unfortunately had been proven right.
She had spent a good five hundred years in the middle of a war, with only civilians on their side to fight the waves of monsters that had tried to force their way onto the planet. They had listened better than soldiers did. She was starting to really understand why the Doctor got so pissed off at them.
She really should ring him, he could help, but she was too busy trying to find Clara to consider it as a viable option at that time. She knew that Clara could look after herself, but Clara might have found something out, something she'd not been able to pass on yet and that they could use to stop the bloodshed.
She skidded around a corner, a move that was intentional and definitely had nothing to do with her clumsiness, just in time for the Doctor to come around the other way.
"Danielle," he snapped, "what the hell have you been up to? I leave you alone for five minutes, and there's a war breaking out."
She stared at him suspiciously, "You're not the Doctor," she commented. "You could be one of the Shadow Men. I'm not an idiot."
"You could have fooled me," he retorted. "Why didn't you call me? I could have helped! I had to wait for Clara to bring me here."
"I can do this on my own," she retorted as she stormed up to him. She knew that he was probably one of the creatures, but his words hit a nerve the Doctor always had been able to. If he brought up her humanity…
"Danielle!" She spun to see another Doctor, another Twelve, come around the corner she had, looking panicked, "Get away from that thing!"
She looked between the two, unsure of whether to believe either of them. She slowly retreated to the middle of the hallway, "You're both fake."
"Of course I'm not fake," the first Doctor promised. "You used to be better than this, Danielle."
"I know it's confusing, Danielle," the other Doctor said. "Please, just come this way. You're safe, just come with me."
She shook her head, "No, no I don't trust either of you. I'm just trying to help, please stop doing this."
She really was starting to panic. Both of them were incredibly convincing, which she was sure was down to the creatures' abilities to mimic the image of who you want, but it was working. She wanted to run to both of them, for different reasons. The Doctor behind her was calm and reassuring, the one in front of her was being snarky and mean and she wanted to prove him wrong.
"Oh, I'm tired of this," one growled and suddenly the mean one was replaced by the Master, must like what had happened within the cell. It charged towards her, mouth open and snarling.
The other Doctor jumped in front of her, batting the Master off with ease, "Danielle, run!"
She didn't need telling twice. She turned and dashed back the way she had come. There was snarling, and the sounds of fighting but the Doctor that had saved her appeared at her side remarkably quickly.
"You're… you're not the Doctor," she panted, "why did… you save me?"
"Because you were trying to help," the Doctor replied. "I took the form so you would see me, I do apologise, I thought you would listen more." The Doctor held his arm out in front of her, stopping them when it had decided that they'd run far enough.
"What? So you're helping me now?" She asked the creature. "Because you're slaughtering us!"
"They're being too loud," the creature retorted, "they're going to call down the search ship."
"Good, then they can take you and leave," Danni snapped. "I tried to reason with you…"
"And I was going to listen," the Doctor replied. "The others saw the soldiers as a reason to attack, but if they hear us, then they'll kill you all too."
Danni frowned, looking a little incredulous, "Even if we hand you over?" She challenged, even though she had no intention of doing that. She still hoped that she could salvage this awful situation without knowingly sending anyone to their death.
"They won't care; you don't know our Emperors. They will wipe the planet clean for even having us on it."
Danni really didn't want to believe them. They had not proven to be trustworthy so far, and good men and women had died trying to stop them. But what choice did they have? They couldn't risk the creature next to her being right, she couldn't risk the Earth just to turn over a dozen rogue aliens, could she?
"And what will you do if they fly by?" She challenged, "Just go to the next planet and eat them clean as well? I can't unleash you into the universe like that!"
"It looks like you don't have a choice," the creature replied. "The universe is full of evil and terrifying things. There are Daleks who wipe out planets. Women with umbrellas that want to destroy the universe for the sake of one girl. A few creatures looking for food is the least of the problems the universe has to look out for."
Danni growled slightly to herself. She couldn't let the Earth be eaten because she didn't want to let the 'bad guys' go, could she? But what about the poor planet they would land on.
"Alright, these are my terms," she replied. "I will get everyone to shut up about you, cover the noise you've made with something else. But, when you leave, you go to an uninhabited planet. And by that I mean, nothing with human-like intelligence. I can't complain about you eating sheep, but if I find out that you're killing anything more developed, I will come and hand you in myself," she shot the creature a look. "I know how; I will be able to find you. Don't underestimate the power of a Time Lord."
The creature didn't take long to reply. "Alright, fine. We'll go somewhere quiet. Can you shut them up now?"
"Can you get all of your people into the cell in the next ten minutes?" Danni counted and the creature nodded.
"Easily," it replied and Danni nodded.
"I'll meet you there," Danni replied, "and please stop looking like my husband. I don't appreciate it." The creature changed and there was now a blur of a person she couldn't quite focus on stood next to her. Danni smiled at it anyway, "What's your name?"
"Kathcan," the creature replied, "I'll see you in ten minutes."
~0~0~0~
Clara and a group of seven UNIT scientists were being slowly driven back against a wall. She wouldn't have been able to guess it if she'd been asked, but it turned out that her greatest fear was a little girl with a satellite for the back of her head. The same little girl, in fact, that had stolen her from her body when she'd first met the Doctor and Danni. She could barely remember that time, but apparently something deep inside was rather worried about it happening again.
Well, it was good to know in those moments before she was going to be eaten. It was definitely something about herself she really hadn't known. It was always good to know yourself properly before being devoured.
The UNIT staff seemed less inclined to consider this. All of them were terrified, and Clara couldn't blame them. She'd seen enough people being eaten for one day, and she wasn't exactly happy about being eaten either.
They all screamed as another person came rushing in, jumping in front of them with a scowl. Clara could only stare as Danni stood against the other creatures, glaring like she had a chance of stopping them.
"What are you doing?" Clara hissed and Danni glanced back at her.
"You really need to check your feelings," she retorted and Clara frowned.
"Kathcan?" She asked, surprised that the Chiman was seemingly protecting them.
Suddenly one of the many girls with satellites for heads dove at them, a snarl on her lips, but Danni was prepared. For a moment, two blurs scuffled on the floor, before one was thrown to the side and Danni was standing victorious in the middle of the room.
She looked back at Clara, "Danielle wants you back at the cells," she told the other woman. "She says you're the best person to get the survivors back there."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Clara challenged and Danni shrugged.
"Don't know, don't care," she retorted, "I have to get this lot there as well. Do what you please."
Clara watched Danni reach out and grab one of the, now blurry, figures that had replaced the things that they were scared off the most. She watched Danni drag them out, and decided she really didn't want to see Danni like that.
She closed her eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and opened them just in time to see Danny Pink dragging out the bad guys. Much better.
She turned to the scientists, "We've got to move," she instructed, "follow me."
~0~0~0~
Luckily Clara's hunch had paid off. The original room they had been taken to when they first had been brought to UNIT was full of very scared people, with Danni, the Osgoods and Kate at a computer.
Danni glanced over at Clara, "Took your time, didn't you?" She called over. Clara directed her little entourage to the rest of the wounded and terrified UNIT staff before heading over to her side.
"What is going on?" Clara asked.
"We're going to hide them," Danni replied simply. "In return for their safety, they're going to leave."
"You're just going to let them leave?" Clara asked, surprised, "they've killed so many people."
"At the moment we don't have a choice. It's either protect them and hold up our end of the bargain, letting them go free, or we all die," Danni explained. "I know what I'm doing, trust me on this."
They all looked around as one of the creatures dragged another in kicking and screaming. Clara saw Danny Pink holding his arms around a girl with a satellite for a head. Danni saw the Doctor dragging in the Master. The Osgoods saw their grandmother dragging in their Sixth Form bully, and Kate wouldn't tell anyone what she saw.
"They're going into the cell?" Clara commented and Danni nodded.
"The cell is pretty impenetrable," Danni reasoned. "And we're wiping the last five days from the computer systems and replacing the data with some from June 2013. Pretty calm month, but not too calm. As they scan us, they'll see no signs of the Shadow Men and will just continue on."
"And then we just let them go?" Clara asked and Danni nodded.
"And then we just let them go."
~0~0~0~
It took seventeen hours for the search ship to pass over Earth without a hitch. The Shadow Men had not appreciated being locked away by their leader, but he kept them under control and was the one to give the all clear.
Of course, it wasn't quite as simple as letting them go. They were all herded into UNIT armoured vehicles with Kathcan ensuring they didn't change from their original forms. No wants, no fears, just a bunch of whiny, blurry figures that were escorted with full protection and guards to a field outside London.
Their ship was pretty well hidden within a bunch of rocks. No one would have noticed and Danni was quite impressed with its cloaking abilities.
Kathcan directed her fellow creatures onto the ship, snarling and snapping at anyone who didn't do as they say. Clara and Danni stood watching and waiting, with Kate and the Osgoods overseeing everything.
"Thank you for your help," Kathcan offered.
"I'm not particularly happy with this," Danni replied bluntly. "But a deal is a deal. Your crimes have been passed onto the highest authority. If you're caught you'll have to deal with them. No second chances, so keep yourself quiet."
Kathcan nodded, "Understood," He replied. He then nodded to Clara, turning into the Doctor one last time, "Keep an eye on your friend," he said with a warning that made Danni's brows furrow. "She doesn't know it, but she is hiding something from you and your husband." And then the Doctor was gone and Kathcan walked up into the ship.
It was noisy, and it was quick, and then it was gone. Clara turned to Danni as they headed back to UNIT.
"Why did you let them go?" She asked. "They could just do the same again somewhere else."
Danni shot her a look. It wasn't a particularly happy look, more of a solemn, almost regretful look Clara would expect on her husband, "Didn't you hear?" She asked, "I told the highest authority in the universe."
~0~0~0~
On a planet quite a long away from Earth, a small spaceship holding a dozen aliens came to rest on a grey field. One stepped out, looking up into the sunlight, before motioning the others out as well.
At first all they did was moan at the lack of food, or housing, and technology. Then, one by one, they all spotted the blue Police Box that stood just a little bit away from them, and the old Scottish man who was waiting outside.